Courtesy of OSWeekly.com

(Column) - Certainly another reason to consider when buying your Ubuntu PCs from System76 over Dell, it seems to me. Having dealt with Dell 'support' in the past, it's clear. It is the over-sized anchor on an already sinking ship.

Discovering Support from Support. As you can see from the experience of the individual linked above, apparently, Dell is not making sure that their Linux support options are being made clearly enough. It's so terrible that this person had to call the standard support line - why? On what planet does this make sense to run people through so much nonsense simply to buy a PC running the OS they have selected? It's simple - it doesn't make any sense at all. And between the long wait time after purchasing a PC to poor customer service, I suspect 2-5 years from now, it will matter very little which OS Dell is offering.

Not All Support is Created Equal. Despite not being able to get anywhere with the standard Dell support team, I was glad to hear that Dell, at the very least, has a competent group providing tech support for their Linux offerings. It's too bad that they are not likely to be recognized enough for their hard work as the casual Dell user must go through Windows support just to get to the Linux support team. Is it me, or is something amiss here?

Perhaps the problem is that the individual did not contact the correct support desk to start off with? I think it's possible, but even if this is the case, there are other factors that we must consider.

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Off the Wall Hardware. Go to any Linux forum and you will find some poor soul who has an old Gateway, Dell or eMachines feeling left out as it does not want to play nicely with whichever distribution of Linux is being used in that forum.

It's sad, but part of the reason why Dell machines (and the like) are so cheap is because their parts are cheap. Mind you I'm speaking of the lower-end PCs, but the message is there all the same - Dell is not working with a solid business model any longer. People today would like to be able to buy their machines right away. And that is a financial risk that Dell cannot take.

Going Beyond the Official Ubuntu Mindset. What Knowles said about Envy and the restricted driver manager is also spot on. Why in the world can Dell techs not understand that Envy solves hours of Xorg head scratching, especially considering the use of an NVIDIA card here? Granted, it sounds like a lot of this will be resolved in Gutsy, but still, this does nothing for users today.

"Dude, Don't Get a Dell!" Buying a Dell for any reason makes no sense to me at this point. Dell has lost their edge. Their business model is wavering. And perhaps worst of all, they still cannot correct the communication breakdown between their users and the company itself.

HP, among others, has some of the same issues that Dell is experiencing. This is certainly true with a shaky support system in place for their customers. But what they have that Dell does not is the ability to go out and purchase a PC today, no waiting.

I've said it once and I will say it again. The only thing Dell has going in their favor in this stage of their slow demise is Ubuntu. And until they start to take this seriously, Dell will continue to become a moot issue with each passing day.

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